


Custody Battle

by Star4545



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M, Parent Phan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-21 19:09:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8257160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star4545/pseuds/Star4545
Summary: Dan and Phil's relationship has crumpled, but they have a daughter to raise and a custody battle to get through.





	

Phil sighs. A long, tiresome sigh. He puts his head on the desk full of filing papers. Why was getting custody of his only daughter so hard? He thinks to himself long and hard. He remembers the days when all was simple. When he found out that the adoption agency found him a mother who was planning to give away her baby. He remembers crying on the phone to an already distant Dan, so happy that everything would work out. That they would have a baby. That in a matter of months they could hold that small baby in their arms and Phil only hoped that would cement their relationship. It hadn't so far.

Due to relationship troubles, Dan and Phil decided being together wasn't going to work. Phil knew damn well Dan didn't want the baby, so why was he making such a big argument. Phil was the one who took care of the baby day and night for two years while Dan would complain about how his sleep kept getting interrupted. Phil was the one to go to all the doctor's appointments. Phil the optimist, the dreamer, the one who had so much hope in the crumbled relationship. Why had it all gone down to shreds? Why is Dan fighting so hard for custody? Why is Phil letting the baby stay with Dan?

Phil misses his baby girl terribly. Dan making a huge fit on how his flat is safer than Phil's and that he needs quality time with his daughter till this all gets sorted. Dan doesn't update Phil at all causing a lot of stress on the man.

He runs his fingers through his hair looking at the growing pile of paperwork. He knew Dan would probably get the custody. After all, Dan does have a well-paying job, a nice flat in a good neighborhood, he could provide for the little girl in a second. While Phil was such a stay-at-home dad, he hadn't thought about a job. Dan had provided for them. He didn't think of his apartment on the third level would be an awful environment. Why was he even trying? Dan is cut out for this. Dan would be the perfect father if he actually started to do things. Though Phil wants his baby and even if he feels like he wants to cry, he was going to fight.

Phil misses the times where he could cry in Dan's arms. Dan always cared so much, would always hold Phil tightly. Where had it gone? Phil thought Dan told him everything. Now all Phil wants to know is what did he do wrong. Dan seems so present and excited at the beginning of this journey, though once the adoption agency found the mother, he drifted. What happened in the span of three months? He never told Phil and Phil could never ask.

Another hour of staring at paperwork, Phil's phone starts to ring. He rubs his eyes, he was so tired and sleep deprived. He grabs the phone and answers it. "Hello." Phil's voice was raspy and tired. He sounded awful.

"Phil," Phil gasps. Dan was actually calling him and using a sweet tone, not the harsh tone he always uses.

"Hm." Phil replies.

"Are you alright?" Phil wants to cry. He wants to break down because he knew that Dan would listen. Dan would be there. Or he used to be.

"No. I'm tired and stressed." Phil says honestly and he can hear muffled sounds.

"Bubba?" Phil almost couldn't believe his ears. His three-year-old daughter was on the phone.

"Hey sweetie." Phil hears her little giggle and then a yawn. He wants so bad to cuddle up with her in bed.

"Love you." Phil's heart swell.

"Love you too." He hears her yawn again and he knew Dan had taken the phone back.

"She misses you a lot. Maybe you can come over one day and see her." _Her._ Phil had to admit he missed Dan as well. If going to see his daughter meant seeing Dan, he wouldn't complain.

"Yeah, I miss her loads. How is she?" Dan sighs, a happy one.

"Great. I-I'm really sorry about this whole thing, Phil. I can't imagine how stressed you are." That cocky son of a bitch. He knew he was going to get full custody, as both of them have decided joint custody would be too difficult. Dan is a lawyer after all, he can pretty much defend himself while Phil has to get an actual lawyer, one that he doesn't have the money for.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." But he shouldn't be. Dan was the one who broke off a seven-year relationship. Dan was the one who is going to get full custody and Phil will never see his ray of sunshine again. Now Phil is crying, not caring that Dan is on the phone, he just needs to cry. Dan is trying to shush him over the phone but it's only making Phil break down worse.

"Phil, please stop crying. I hate to hear you cry." Phil can only imagine the warmth of Dan's body heat around him. He can only imagine Dan saying, 'I love you' over and over again. Phil can't calm down.

"I-I," Phil can't get the rest of it all, it is so jumbled in his mind.

"Calm down, babe. Please." Phil stops for an all of one second. Obviously it was just a slip of the tongue, an old habit that came to play. "Sorry, I-I didn't-"

"It's fine. It stopped my crying, didn't it?" Dan lets out an airy laugh. "When can I come over? To visit?"

"I'm free tomorrow. I-I mean; we are free tomorrow." Phil smiles, missing Dan's awkwardness.

"Okay, sounds great. I'm pooped. Good night, Dan." Dan smiles.

"Good night, Phil."

Phil wakes up the next day at somewhat of an early start. Drinks his coffee and eats his cereal before texting Dan to confirm the loosely made plans. Dan says anytime would be fine. So Phil gets dressed, grabs his wallet and phone before heading out. Before going to Dan's, he has a stop at a children's store and buys a coloring book for his daughter. One that is magic themed as Dan would have killed him for getting the princess one, he is all about no gender roles.

Phil gets to Dan's apartment, almost scared to knock on the door. He hasn't seen Dan in person in a couple months. He hasn't seen his baby girl in a couple months. He hasn't even seen Dan's new flat. He raises his fist and gently knocks on the door. In a matter of a minute, a hobbit haired Dan opens the door. "Phil! It's so nice to see you, come in." Dan says, cheerfully. Phil guesses it's an act to fool their daughter into thinking everything is alright between the two. Phil follows Dan up a flight of steps before he stops, seeing his daughter playing in the lounge. Phil takes a look around the place. It's a nice apartment in the center of London. It has a nice sized lounge and it seems decently picked up.

"BUBBA!" The little girl screams running up to her father. She keeps on chanting it as Phil lifts her up in his arms. This is how it's supposed to be. Dan and Phil and baby. Instead its Dan and baby and Phil on the other side of London.

"Hey little one." She holds tightly around Phil's neck, giving him multiple kisses on the cheek.

"Daddy! Bubba is here." Phil lets her down and she skips around the two men chanting it. Phil looks at his daughter, light brown hair in two braids and shining green eyes. Phil remembers those eyes; they had come right from the mother. She is wearing a small Muse shirt Dan must've bought from the internet and blue jeans. Phil loves her so much; he hopes Dan notices.

"Thanks for inviting me over, Dan. It's really nice of you." Dan shakes his head.

"My pleasure." He puts on a sickly sweet smile that makes Phil apprehensive whether this is all an act or not. Meanwhile, their daughter had run back to her toys in the lounge. "Go and play with her." Dan says, pushing Phil forward slightly. He feels out of place. Like his avengers’ shirt and black jeans don't belong here with nicely put together Dan and their Muse shirt wearing three-year-old.

Phil goes over and gives her the coloring book which she thanks him for and continues to play with a Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal. Phil grabs the abandoned Piglet and starts to make conversation with his daughter in the best impression of Piglet he can muster. It makes her giggle and that's a start. A couple minutes pass, and Phil wishes this would never end. Dan comes in with a tray that has three mugs on top of it. He sets it down on the coffee table, moving his daughter’s dolls to the floor. "Daddy, can you play Winnie the Pooh please?" The girl asks, handing Dan the Pooh doll. Dan nods sitting down with Phil and his daughter on the floor. The three-year-old smiles before grabbing her Hello Kitty mug and taking a sip of the Hot Chocolate inside before sitting back down and waiting for one of her fathers to start the game once more.

Dan does a stellar Winnie the Pooh impression, Phil must admit. Much better than his wannabe Piglet. Dan's impression is Disney World good and Phil's is some knock off you find in Times Square trying to steal your wallet. Dan laughs at Phil's Piglet. Constantly saying, _"What is that?"_ Every time Phil speaks, but he is okay with it because it's Dan and he is used to Dan's teasing. Around one, Dan announces its time for nap. The girl whines, claiming she isn't tired and wants to play more. But Dan insists and carries the girl to her room.

He comes back out a few minutes later. Phil still sitting with a now empty mug in his hands. He wishes life was like this so much. It just seems so natural. He wants their relationship to be where it was many years ago. Happy and so optimistic. He wants to kiss Dan and tell him he loves him. He wants Dan to rake his fingers through his hair. He wants Dan so badly. Yet he has drifted so far.

Dan goes and sits next to Phil. Phil almost naturally engulfing Dan into a hug. Dan, stiff at first, settles into a hug. "What happened to us, Dan? We were so good before…" Phil trials off. Why is he bringing this up? Everything was going so well, yet he just ruined it.

"I-I don't know. I wasn't ready, I guess." Phil shakes his head.

"But you were. You suggested it!" Before Phil could say anything more, Dan plops his lips onto Phil's. Unthinking and unaware, Phil kisses back.

Everything shifting to the way it was and Phil can see it now. Phil picking their daughter up at pre-school, cooking dinner, and waiting for Dan to get home from the law firm. _The kiss gets deeper._ Dan taking off of work to come see his daughter's awful ballet recital. _Shirts are taken off._ Phil talking to all the other moms because not a lot of dads are on the pta. _Dan is pushed to the ground and puts his fingers through Phil's hair._ Dan and Phil being domestic as they make breakfast for themselves and their daughter at the same time. _Friction through pants._ Dan having a picture of his daughter and Phil on his desk at work. _Pants are taken off._ Phil filling the house with house plants. _Soft moans escape._ Teaching their daughter how to make Delia Smith pancakes. _Hair tugging._ Dan pushes his daughter on the swing. _Groans and grunts._ Phil watching countless hours of Pokémon with his girl. _Climax soon approaching._ Dan and Phil move to a bigger house with a good school nearby. _Sweat covering bodies._ The family getting a Shiba Inu. _Dan moans out Phil's name._ They watch their daughter grow up. Like that's it's over. The two men are sweaty and tired and Phil wants that future so badly. He wants the dog and the house and the pancakes. He wants all these things that he can't have. He can't even have his daughter.

Phil sleepily continues to kiss Dan. This was always his favorite time to do so, when Dan is so blissed out that he will barely even respond but it's something. It feels like old times. Old, old times as even in those last few months of their relationship, nothing like this happened. Dan would barely even kiss Phil. "I love you, Phil." Dan mumbles out quickly, but Phil picks up on it.

"Love you too, Bear." Dan smiles, wrapping his arms around Phil's neck and pulling the man down to lie on the floor with him. Dan presses a sweaty head to Phil's shoulder, placing a kiss there.

"Sorry 'bout everything, really in truly." Phil grabs Dan's hands and links their fingers.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." Then Dan starts to whisper 'I love you's' over and over again. "Dan, it's okay."

"No it isn’t; I-" He yawns. "-messed everything up. It's all my fault. We could've been a perfect family and I done screwed it up." Phil wonders if Dan saw it too. The perfect house, with the perfect dog, the perfect family. "I was going to propose." This was news to Phil, who gasps. "On the holiday we were going to take to Florida before we got the call and had to cancel it."

"Dan…" Phil starts.

"I still have it because I always hoped you would come back to me." Dan says, voice so calm. Phil knew in any other circumstance, Dan wouldn't have even mentioned this and Phil would leave a sad, regretful Dan in his huge London apartment.

"I never left, you did." Phil responds. Dan squeezes Phil hands.

"I know." It was silent for a good couple of minutes. Phil was thankful for those minutes because he could truly think of what he was about to say.

"Want to get back together?" Phil asks and Dan nods.

"I won't become distant this time." Phil smiles, kissing Dan's lips once again.

"I know. Now let's shower before little missy wakes up, yeah?" Dan groans as he slowly gets up. Phil grabs the clothes and Dan leads him to his on-suite bathroom in his room.

They shower together. It seemed like nothing happened between the two. They were joking around and catching up. Scrubbing shampoo into each other scalps. They got out and changed. Phil then went to wake up his daughter, as he had to leave to go back home. She whines and holds tightly to Phil, not wanting him to every leave her side. He musters up the courage to finally kiss his child good bye. Dan leads him to the front door of the apartment.

"Move in with us." Dan says, kissing Phil's lips.

"Yeah. I will."

The next few weeks are full of moving, and birthdays, and preschool (their little girl is growing up so fast). Dan and Phil wake up every morning and make sure to eat breakfast together, as that is the only time in the day when it is truly just the two of them other than bed time. Phil makes dinner for the family that is always ready when Dan arrives home. Phil is the stay-at-home dad who watches endless amounts of Pokémon with his daughter on snow days. Dan takes off work for his daughter's dance recitals. Before their daughter starts grade school they move into an actual house and they get a dog. It's so perfect that it seems fake. Phil is so glad there was no custody battle. That Dan proposed with a dozen tiny ballerinas surrounding him. He is glad that their daughter is growing up in a loving, happy household. And most importantly, he is glad he didn't let Dan drift too far away.

 


End file.
